Friday, April 25, 2008

CBS 2 News Covers Bell Verdict

CBS 2 News broke in at 9:14 to report the news of the verdict in the Sean Bell trial. Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield tossed it right away to John Slattery, who was standing outside the courthouse in Kew Gardens, Queens, with news of the verdict: The three officers were acquitted on all charged. The news was significant because there were concerns that there might be a violent reaction to such a decision. Pablo Guzman was inside the courtroom at the time the verdict was announced and reported via telephone before he was able to get on camera. Jay Dow, Dave Carlin and Jackie Hyland also provided live reports on the community reaction. Chopper 2 HD provided aerial footage of the area.

As of this posting, CBS 2 News is still on the air.

5:04 P.M. UPDATE: The initial special report lasted until 10:29 and included the Bell family's march to the cemetery and press conferences from NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and the PBA. CBS 2 broke in again at 11:53 to cover Mayor Michael Bloomberg's statement live from Jamaica, then transitioned at 11:59 to CBS 2 News at Noon. The newscast led with reports from Guzman, Carlin and Dow, but did eventually get to the rest of the day's news. Dana Tyler anchored another special report at 1:17, which covered a press conference by the Detectives' Endowment Association, including comments from the three officers who were found not guilty this morning. At the end of the special report, a brief statement from the Rev. Al Sharpton was played, before returning to regular programming at 1:43.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We been covering Sean Bell’s case over at Highbrid Nation from the start and when I read today that the police officers were acquitted I was in serious disbelief. An unarmed man was shot 50 times and the people who did it are not responsible at all!? That’s crazy.

Eileen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce S said...

After the Amadou Daillou several years ago, I had an inkling that the verdict would be the same. These cops are certainly not off the hook. Perhaps there needs to be more training of police officers to show restraint in using weapons. There is one issue about Al Shaprton that annoys me. A few years ago two African American cops were murdered in Staten Island. Sharpton was nowhere to be found.

Anonymous said...

He wasn't shot 50 times. There were 50 shots fired in a very confusing, volatile situation. I shudder to think you're a journalist at "Highbrid Nation" - this kind of wrong information only inflames things.